Mark StebbinsWise Words on Finding Your Place in the Great Commission
From Mark Stebbins
Director for Mobilization/Recruitment, U.S. Navigators Missions
I don't want to become a Christian. God will probably send me to Africa!
I
vividly remember thinking this way in high school. I was afraid of
giving up my ambitions, my hopes and dreams, to follow Jesus. But then,
in college, I came to know the Lord, and the idea of giving my life to
Christ became exciting to me. And then, sure enough, my senior year I
was invited to go to Ethiopia.
Strange as it may sound, I
realized I was ready to go. In fact, I got excited about doing what
other people might be afraid to do. I'd made a complete 180-degree
change in my thinking. I now believe that what I felt in high school
was really an echo of my calling. Somehow my fear of going to Africa
was part of God's call on my life.
I spent six months in
Ethiopia, walking through the jungle talking to people in huts, helping
local missionaries start a church. But the significant thing that
happened was that my paradigm shifted. My heart became totally caught
up with what God was doing in the nations.
God did such a great change in me that
I thought I might want to be involved in missions as a career. A couple
of years later I had an opportunity to go to Ghana, West Africa. That's
when I came to see the whole landscape of missions. It was like I
caught a mid-air vision—a 30,000-foot-high perspective—of what God is
doing in the world. Plus I realized God uses imperfect people like me
to advance the Gospel.
I later spent eight more years in
Ghana—after I married Lou Ann and we had three children—and during
those years God impressed upon me the vast difference between the
number of resources that are available there and what is available in
the United States. Resources—especially human resources—are incredibly
abundant in the States compared to the lack of resources elsewhere in
the world. And that haunts me. It's like a silent scream I hear every
day. It makes me passionate to do something about it, to get people to
go and spend a slice of their life overseas.
I'm
convinced—without a shred of doubt—that every believer has a role to
play for the nations. We all need to embark on a creative exploration
to discover our role. Some people will never touch foreign soil, but
they can be connected in some way. To pray, to give, to send, whatever
it might be. We are all global workers!
But how do we practice
"go" when we are planted in one place? How do we stay active in the
Great Commission when we are totally immersed with life right where we
are?
The attached PDF
has two mini-studies that are designed to lead you into your unique
mosaic of missions roles that effect substantive international
contribution. As we all do our part, "go" is obeyed and the Great
Commission will be accomplished!
Since 1997, I've worked in The
Navigators' missions office, what we call U.S. International Missions
Group. My emphasis is mobilization and recruitment. I live for the
opportunity to help connect the saints with solid global options. I
invite you to visit www.navmissions.org to catch a vision for what God has the U.S. Navigators doing around the world. And to explore your fit, please complete the online Mission Interest Survey there. I promise we'll get back to you!
Tell us what you think
We'd
love to hear what you think about the Wise Words article and the action
items suggested. Here are a few questions to start the dialogue:
- What was the most inspiring part about these mini studies?
- What was the most difficult part?
- If you could ask Mark Stebbins one question about these studies, what would it be? Now ask him: email Mark.
E-mail us below!
